 Prince The story of The Black Album is more interesting than the music, which is pretty much Prince after-hours funk jammin' with some middle-school rappin' thrown in and the requisite ballad ("When 2 R in Love," which was also on Lovesexy). If anything, it prefigures what he'd be doing with the New Power Generation throughout the 90s. So don't buy into the "Prince decided not to release it because it was so dark!!!!" stuff. Some say he actually scrapped it after an MDMA experience – certainly that would explain the headlong dive into joy that was Lovesexy. It's just as likely, though, that he canceled the release simply because it's not a very good album. "Bob George" is the big one here, one of his "funny voice" narratives a la "Cloreen Bacon Skin" off Crystal Ball. The rest is pretty much "let's have a slammin' party, y'all!" "Cindy C." is more ridiculous now than then … or is it crazy awesome now? I'm not sure; this is Prince. Prince spends loads of time trying to make fun of rappers on this record, but history has been much kinder to the people he was trying to mock than to The Black Album, overall. Truly, it's an album whose existence alone is its primary appeal, and the music, while certainly good, just doesn't have that "legendary" quality you want it to. By the time the album finally got released in 1994, the world had moved on, and so had Prince, leaving The Black Album a curiosity that no one really ever pulls out to throw on the ol' hi-fi. "Man, I have to hear 'Le Grind'!!!!!!!" You know? Then again, of course there are those people; this is Prince.
Review by Heidi Headgiver |